'Immediate' recruitment freeze for Shropshire council

Conservative-run Shropshire Council chief executive Clive Wright wrote to directors to announce the news

A council has announced a recruitment freeze with "immediate effect" in order to stay within budget, the authority has said.

Conservative-run Shropshire Council chief executive Clive Wright wrote to directors to announce the news.

All new recruits will have to be approved and signed off by Mr Wright from now on.

The opposition Liberal Democrat group said it would put pressure on "overloaded" council officers.

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Mr Wright confirmed that "all posts to be recruited or replaced will now have to be approved by the relevant director and signed off by me", though he admitted there would be "some exceptions".

It is not yet known how long the freeze will last.

Following the news, Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Roger Evans said: "Staff are doing more work than ever before. It isn't fair to our officers.

"I've seen a separate report which states the number of sickness days officers are off work is increasing year-on-year, higher than the national norm and more than other local authorities.

"This does not bode well for the future of Shropshire Council."

The council should use its reserves of £92 million to ease the budget cuts, the Liberal Democrats added.

"We have operated recruitment freezes previously and I am pleased to say that managers were extremely diligent, and few inappropriate recruitment proposals came forward. I am confident that this will also be the case during this current freeze", Mr Wright said.

Last year, plans were announced to cut council-run library hours while in April, the authority said children's services in Shropshire "could be cut by half" to save money.